


honey

by manbunjon



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i watched paterson (2016) again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 18:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21040655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manbunjon/pseuds/manbunjon
Summary: “You’re my girl?” Ben hummed, bumping his forehead against her shoulder, suddenly so serious that it made confusion flicker over her face, and Rey could not help but wonder if that was what he had been thinking about the whole time.Rey draped her arms around his neck, the most comfortable scarf he had ever worn, her pointer finger reaching out to trace the contour of his nose as she did sometimes when he was sleeping and the sun was barely up over the hills in the distance.“Yeah.” she said, without even a beat of hesitation, and her smile was so big and bright that Ben thought he would gladly have let it blind him. “Yeah, I’m your girl.”





	honey

Rey was singing in the shower again. 

Ben could hear it from the back of the flat, pushing himself away from his office desk so that Baby, affectionately called BB, could rest his head in Ben's lap, looking rueful. Both boys remained still for a moment, listening to the song that filtered through the halls and watching the rain that danced against the window.

Ben's hair was still damp, curling at the nape of his neck and making him shiver, even with the heater on high, and he wiggled his toes, glad he had though to put on a pair of heavy wool socks.

On their way back from the park for BB's afternoon exercise, the three had been caught in a sudden torrent of rain, one of the London characteristic downpours Ben had long ago grown used to. But by this time of year the rain had already shifted from the warm mist of summer to the sharp cold of winter, and despite how Ben had wrapped both of them up in his big jacket as they rushed back to the flat, Rey had gotten soaked, and the second he had held the door open for her she had danced passed him, pressing a kiss to his cheek and disappearing.

Ben had been toeing off his wet boots at the door when he had heard the groan of pipes and knew she had forgone her favourite place before the hearth in favour of a hot shower, which she always did after getting caught in the rain.

It made Ben smile to hear her off-key, but spirited, singing, thinking the song sounded even better now, off tempo and muffled by the fall of rain and the moan of water through pipes, than it had when they heard it over breakfast.

Ben found himself following the sound, like a pirate enticed by a siren's sweet song, and was assaulted by wall of hot steam as he nudged open the bathroom door, chuckling to himself as the small Pitbull wriggled passed his legs and disappeared into the wall of steam ahead of him.

It had been more than a year since BB had broken the knob of the bathroom door in a bout of thunderstorm related nervousness, forcing Ben to replace both the knob and the half rusted hinges. It had taken under an hour to finish the repair— though Ben had admittedly dragged out the process so he could lavish in the way Rey’s eyes poured over him when he clipped on his tool belt.

With the new hinges the aged door no longer creaked as it once had, which, coming from a flat built before his great-great-grandparents had been conceived, was no easy feat. But since the door no longer squeaked— there was really no way for Rey to know he was there.

And yet she did. Somehow she always did.

Only a few seconds passed before the shower curtain parted and her head emerged, sopping wet and dripping all over the fancy Chinese tile his mother had imported as a birthday gift.

Rey smiled at him, the same brilliant smile he had so long ago fallen in love with, and it must have been contagious because soon he was smiling too, until they were both just standing there smiling at each other, like fools in love.

On the rug before the clawfoot tub BB preened in the warmth, wiggling forward on his belly so he could stick his head under the shower curtain and try to catch the drops of water that fell like rain from above. Rey smiled at the pup, bending so that she could run her wet fingers along the crown of his head, and Ben didn't even mind when his thick tail began to slap at his calves fast as a whip. 

“You gonna hop in?” Rey asked, scooting over a bit to show him there was space. There wasn’t, not in the tiny London tub, but he appreciated the show anyway, and leaned forward to plant his lips on her wet forehead.

She hummed in disappointment and slid back behind the curtain, continuing her song.

Ben took a seat on the lid of the toilet, perfectly content to sit back and enjoy the show playing before him, finding she was on perfect display behind the white shower curtain, turning this way and that as she moved around the tub.

Her song died down to a gentle hum so that she could wash her hair without getting soap in her mouth, and Ben found himself leaning closer to listen, as enamored with the woman before him as he was the song on her lips.

It was perfectly domestic, this little scene that played out before him. And yet Ben knew that if he pulled back the curtain and slipped in beside her, they would be on each other in a moment, all hot mouths and grasping fingers, and one of them would be on their knees before the water even ran cold.

It’s what he liked about her, what had made him fall head over heels in love with her from the very first time he had laid eyes on her. The way she could be so incredibly cute and unflinchingly sexy at the same time, could go down on him in the middle of a crowded theatre and then tease him for eating the last of her Malteasers. Could be sexier in one of those horrible Scroogesque nightshirts she wore in the winter than anyone else in the world looked dressed in black tie.

“Ben?” she repeated.

“What?” he asked, scratching his chin with the backs of his fingers as her prodding pulled him from his thoughts.

Rey looked at him funny from behind the clear plastic. “I said, can I use your razor?”

“You want to use my razor?” he repeated, knowing he left it hanging on the short iron hook besides the shower head. Wondered if she could reach it or if she’d need him to do so for her. The thought made a strange thrill flicker through him, knowing she’s need him so. 

“Yeah.” she continued. “I forgot to shave my legs and they’re getting a bit scratchy. Don’t want you thinking you accidentally let a yeti into your bed.”

He laughed at that. “‘course you can.” he said. “Why’d you even ask?”

She looked sheepish for a moment, biting the corner of her bottom lip. Ben grimaced as he studied her, wanting to make it so that she never had to frown ever again. “I dunno.” she said, mulling over the question. He could practically see the gears in her head turning. “Just in case you didn’t want me to.”

“I’d let you do anything you wanted, sweetheart.” Ben returned without hesitation, without falsity, and the seriousness of his words made them both flush.

He’d buy her anything, bring her anywhere, do anything for her or with her. He’d keep her safe, fight every battle for her so that she’d never have to lift a hand ever again.

“Come here.” Ben said after a moment, moving from the toilet to sit at the edge of the tub.

He could feel the warm mist from the showerhead soaking into his long sleeved shirt, the same warm water that ate away at the dry denim of his jeans as he edged closer. But Ben found he didn’t care, much too preoccupied with the slippery fish of a woman who had come to stand beside him, the rapidity of her obedience making his stomach churn with excitement and anticipation.

Rey snapped open the curtain, turning the nozzle with her fingers so that it sprayed away from him, and came to stand before him in nothing but the water that dangled from her earlobes and fingertips and nipples like teardrop diamonds.

“Let me.” he offered huskily, rising to his full height to take the razor down from the hook.

He felt her eyes follow him as he moved, roaming over the plains of his body like she had plans to draw it, and it made heat bloom in his chest to see the desire that danced in her dark eyes, to know that a girl like her would want someone like him.

Rey reached out to take the razor from him but Ben stopped her with a click of his tongue, holding it just out of reach. She play fought him for a moment, rising to stand on her toes as she reached for it, and when he did not succumb she let her body sink against him, the warm imprint of her wetness soaking into his clothes. He still didn’t care about the discomfort, only reaching to lift his shirt over his head after Ben decided that he’d rather hold her in his arms without the barrier of cloth between them, so that he could feel the warmth and softness of her skin against his without interference.

“Let me.” he breathed, and her expression faltered.

“You-“ she began, licking her lips, nervous. “You want to...shave my legs for me?” she was skeptical, looking at him as though she was misunderstanding something obvious, and it made his heart sink into the pit of his stomach to know that someone had made her hurt this way, had made her so wary 

“Mhm.” he hummed, and so he did.

He returned to sit on the lid of the toilet and guided her foot up between his parted legs, lathering her golden skin with shaving cream and watching as it ran down the drain when he wiped it away after. At first she had looked sheepish when he bent to inspect the hair on her legs, as though embarrassed to be found out not to be a hairless seal, but Ben merely pulled her leg back when she tried to jerk it out of his grasp, planting it between his legs with a pointed look.

It was surprisingly difficult work, with her skin and her heart and even her goddamn soul so much softer than his, and Ben worked with painstaking care to make sure he didn’t knick her skin.

He did her left leg first, the razor moving easily through the hair there, the softness surprising him, Ben finding it was so different from the hair that grew from every inch of him. He moved carefully around her thin ankles and over the knees she had once professed she hated because someone had once called them knobby, and he kissed each one for good measure as he passed over them and moved to her thighs, making the tips of her ears go pink at the softness of the gesture. 

He moved on to her right leg, feeling her eyes on the back of his bent head as he worked. Her hand fisted in his hair, like it did when he rolled her beneath him in sleep or when he fell to his knees to duck beneath her skirt, and when he finished his work he pressed his lips to the inside of her knee and kisses the bare flesh there until his mouth felt dry. 

“Come out of there.” he said and a moment later heard the grate of metal and the creak of pipes as the faucet was cut off and the curtain thrown open.

Ben kicked off his wet jeans and socks, careful to avoid treading on the pup that lay fast asleep on the bathmat, and he wrapped her in one of the fluffy green towels they had bought together,slipping on his robe and enveloping her inside of it, suddenly glad she had talked him into buying the bigger size.

He walked them clumsily into the living room, bumping walls and tables and chairs along the way.

But Rey didn’t seem to mind, gazing up at him as they walked, her eyes bright and shining with silent words that Ben found he understood perfectly. He mirrored every unspoken word in his kisses, reaching for her chin, her cheeks, her nose, her brow, kissing every part of her he loved and imbuing each gentle kiss with words of devotion and adoration, hoping that she could feel them.

And, just as Rey had sensed his presence in the bathroom, he knew she understood his adumbrated words, her beautiful eyes glowing as they searched his, sweeping over his face with a heated intensity that almost surprised him.

Ben sat back on the sofa tucked up in front of the fireplace, fixing Rey with the lopsided smile she so adored as she moved to sit in his lap, resting her forehead against his neck as she curled against him, laying his arm in the valley between her breasts so she could hold onto it. They stayed that way for a long while, content to watch the fire dancing in the hearth or the way BB flopped onto his back and began to roll like an upturned beetle to try and dry himself on the carpet. It was only when the ends of her wet hair began to drip water down her back and the arm he wound around her shoulders to steady her that he sat her up.

She disappeared for a moment in search of her hairbrush, and Ben was glad she returned to her seat in his lap, though it was slightly ungainly to brush and braid her hair from so close an angle. He frowned as he looked down at his sloppy work, reaching out to undo the plait and braid it again, but she slapped his hands away, insisting that it was beautiful and thanking him for his work with a soft kiss.

Her hands skated down his chest, closing around the lapels of his robe as she brought him in for a better kiss, a proper kiss, that made warmth blaze through him as though he had been bathed in burning sunlight after hours of icy night.

“You’re my girl?” Ben hummed, bumping his forehead against her shoulder, suddenly so serious that it made confusion flicker over her face, and Rey could not help but wonder if that was what he had been thinking about the whole time.

Rey draped her arms around his neck, the most comfortable scarf he had ever worn, her pointer finger reaching out to trace the contour of his nose as she did sometimes when he was sleeping and the sun was barely up over the hills in the distance.

“Yeah.” she said, without even a beat of hesitation, and her smile was so big and bright that Ben thought he would gladly have let it blind him. “Yeah, I’m your girl.”

**Author's Note:**

> fun fact: this was written because someone sent me a mean anon saying I’m only good as writing smut, so here we have it, smut free and utterly sweet. HA.
> 
> p.s. the sleepy nose touching was inspired by [this scene](https://twitter.com/jewishbensolo/status/1183865439451013121?s=21) with adam and golshifteh in Paterson (2016)
> 
> **note:** [the reading reylo's](https://twitter.com/ReadingReylos) on twitter broadcasted a live reading of this fic, so you can listen to [an audio reading if you're interested!](https://www.pscp.tv/w/1vOGwoRQymNGB)


End file.
